Spread-spectrum data publishing system

ABSTRACT

A system for publishing data on shared broadcast channels using spread-spectrum techniques, which may comprise a spread-spectrum encoder capable of receiving data and placing it in a spread-spectrum signal format and a transmitter operating on a shared communication channel or frequency band, such as might be allocated to terrestrial point-to-point or broadcast communications. The shared communication channel may comprise a cellular system, in which data may be transmitted using spread-spectrum techniques using the transmitters and repeaters of the cellular system simultaneously with voice and other transmissions associated with the cellular system. A subscriber station may be capable of receiving using a plurality of different communication channels or frequency bands, such as a first receiver capable of cellular reception and a second receiver capable of satellite reception, at least one of which uses spread-spectrum techniques. The subscriber station may also comprise a transmitter using at least one communication channel or frequency band, so that the subscriber station may receive data or other transmissions using one channel and may request further data or other transmissions using a second channel.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/865,563, filed on May29, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,638, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 08/345,532, filed Nov. 28, 1994, now abandoned,which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/208,089, filed Mar.8, 1994, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No.07/809,194, filed Dec. 16, 1991, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a system for publishing data by broadcast orrelated technology. More specifically, this invention relates to asystem for publishing data on shared channels using spread-spectrumtechniques.

2. Description of Related Art

Data publishing is the process of transmitting data to recipients bymeans of electronic communication channels, such as broadcast or relatedcommunication methods. One motive for data publishing is that it may beeasier or less expensive to transmit data to recipients by means ofbroadcast than it would be to write that data onto physical media (suchas paper or magnetic disks or tapes) and carry the physical media tothem. Another motive is that the marginal cost of publishing the samedata to an additional recipient may be comparatively small. Datapublishing may be particularly advantageous when the data to bepublished are voluminous, rapidly changing, or must be delivered withina short time to be useful. A classic example of such data isstock-market trading data, although there are many other cases wheredata publishing would be advantageous.

One problem which has arisen in the art is the lack of sufficientbroadcast infrastructure for data publishing. There are few if anybroadcast towers, repeaters, or receivers for use with data publishing,so it has been generally necessary to use infrastructure which isalready associated with another form of communication. Hence the use oftelephone, television, radio and satellite systems noted above.Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method of datapublishing which did not require construction of large amounts ofadditional infrastructure.

Another problem which has arisen in the art is that it may be difficultto obtain sufficient bandwidth, at reasonable cost and without excessivedifficulty, to publish the data. Lack of bandwidth naturally eitherreduces the amount of data which can be published, or increases theamount of time which is required to publish the data to recipients.

One method of the prior art is to make use of spare bandwidth from anextant communication system. Examples include telephone (usingdata-over-voice), television (using vertical blanking intervals), andradio (using FM sidebands) systems. While this method achieves a limiteddegree of success, it has been subject to the drawback that it has notbeen able to deliver bandwidth to support publishing of large amounts ofdata. For example, while television systems have a great deal ofbroadcast bandwidth, the amount of bandwidth for data publishingavailable by means of the vertical blanking interval is relativelylimited. Another problem is that this prior art method does notgenerally provide national coverage.

Another method of the prior art is to allocate separate frequency bandsin which to publish the data. Examples of this method include satellitesystems with dedicated channels. While this method is able to deliver agreater amount of bandwidth for data publishing, it has been subject tothe drawback that allocation of separate frequency bands for datapublishing may generally require proceedings before the FCC or othergovernment agencies.

Another method of the prior art is to use leased lines or othertelephone lines to publish the data serially to multiple receivingsites. While this method is able to deliver the data to receiving sites,it has been subject to the drawback that it requires a great deal ofmoney in leased line charges or telephone charges, and therefore may notbe economical.

Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method of datapublishing which allowed easier access to sufficient bandwidth for datapublishing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a system for publishing data on shared broadcastchannels using spread-spectrum techniques. The system may comprise aspread-spectrum encoder capable of receiving data and placing it in aspread-spectrum signal format and a transmitter operating on a sharedcommunication channel or frequency band, such as might be allocated toterrestrial point-to-point or broadcast communications. In a preferredembodiment, the shared communication channel may comprise a cellularsystem, in which data may be transmitted using spread-spectrumtechniques using the transmitters and repeaters of the cellular systemsimultaneously with voice and other transmissions associated with thecellular system.

In a preferred embodiment, a subscriber station may be capable ofreceiving using a plurality of different communication channels orfrequency bands, such as a first receiver capable of cellular receptionand a second receiver capable of satellite reception, at least one ofwhich uses spread-spectrum techniques. The subscriber station may alsocomprise a transmitter using at least one communication channel orfrequency band, so that the subscriber station may receive data or othertransmissions using one channel and may request further data or othertransmissions using a second channel. For example, the subscriberstation may comprise a cellular transmitter and receiver, and asatellite receiver.

Communication may be carried out using an M-ary spread-spectrumtechnique, wherein each of a plurality of spread-spectrum codescorresponds to a unique sequence of data bits to be transmitted.Communication may also be carried out within a geographical region usingtime division multiplexing or time division multiple access (TDMA), aswell as frequency division multiplexing and/or code divisionmultiplexing. A dual-mode receiver may be configured to receive eitherspread-spectrum signals or narrowband signals over one or morebandwidths.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system for data publishing.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a cellular system communication channelin a system for data publishing.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a subscriber station.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a transmitter station.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram of a base station capable of communicating with aplurality of subscriber stations.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram of a time frame divided into a plurality of timeslots.

FIG. 7 shows a dual-mode receiver block diagram.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system for data publishing.

A system for data publishing may comprise a data source 101, atransmitter station 102, a communication channel 103, and a subscriberstation 104. The data source 101 may originate the data to be published(or may format it for publication). The transmitter station 102 mayreceive the data and place it in a spread-spectrum signal format fortransmission over the communication channel 103. The communicationchannel 103 may couple the data (in a spread-spectrum signal format) toone or more subscriber stations 104. The subscriber stations 104 mayreceive the data and decode it from the spread-spectrum format.

In a preferred embodiment, the data source 101 may originate (or format)a variety of different types of data to be published. These may include:text, graphics, digitized voice, digitized images or moving video, ormixed media; financial, news and weather data, including digitizedphotos and weather maps; airline and rail scheduling data; updates forin-store retail displays, including high-resolution graphicadvertisements and animation; credit and credit card data for in-storeapproval and verification; encyclopedia or other database contents,including chemical, legal, medical, and pharmacological databases, andadvertising and telephone listings; high-quality telecopier images andother print images; and updates for documentation manuals, includingairline, automotive and computer manuals.

In a preferred embodiment, the subscriber stations 104 may each comprisea multitasking processor which may perform communication tasks inparallel with other tasks, and which may be coupled to a LAN (local areanetwork) or WAN (wide area network) for retransmitting data to othercooperating processors.

In a preferred embodiment, the communication channel 103 may comprise asatellite system 105, having an uplink station 106, a satellite andtransponder 107 (preferably with a wide area footprint), and a downlinkstation 108, as is well known in the art of satellite communication. Theuplink station 106 may be coupled to the transmitter station 102; thedownlink station 108 may be coupled to the subscriber station 104 andmay comprise an indoor mountable one-foot antenna, as is well known inthe art of satellite communication.

In a preferred embodiment, the transmitter station 102 and thesubscriber station 104 may comprise inventions disclosed in U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,016,255, 5,022,047, 5,276,704, 5,081,642, 5,455,822, 5,396,515,5,499,265 and 5,291,516, all of which are hereby incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein, and the spread-spectrum signalformat may comprise signal formats disclosed therein.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a cellular system communication channelin a system for data publishing.

In a preferred embodiment, the communication channel 103 may comprise ashared communication channel or frequency band, such as might beallocated to terrestrial point-to-point or broadcast communications. Inparticular, in a preferred embodiment, the communication channel 103 maycomprise a cellular system 201, with a set of base stations 202 and aset of cells 203. In the cellular system 201, the data to be publishedmay be transmitted using the frequency bands allocated to the cellularsystem 201, from the transmitter station 102 to a transmitter basestation 202, to a receiver base station 202 (possibly by means of a setof repeaters 204), to a user station 205. In a preferred embodiment, thetransmitter station 102 may be collocated with the transmitter basestation 202, may be coupled thereto by means of cabling, and may evenshare the same antenna. Return messages may be transmitted from the userstation 205 to the transmitter station 102 in like manner.

Because the data to be published is transmitted in a spread-spectrumsignal format, it may use the same frequency bands allocated to thecellular system 201 simultaneously with other transmissions associatedwith the cellular system 201 and without interfering with those othertransmissions. Moreover, the data to be published (in itsspread-spectrum signal format) may be routed in the cellular system 201and transmitted from base station 202 to base station 202 without lossof data and without substantial modification of the cellular system 201.

In a preferred embodiment, the cellular system 201 may compriseinventions disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,402,413 and 5,285,469, all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

In one embodiment, the cellular system 201 employs a time divisionmultiple access technique. FIG. 5 is a diagram of a master unit 50 and Nnode units. The master unit 50 may be a base station, PBX, file serveror other central controlling device serving as the center of a starnetwork, and the node units may be any type of computer, communications,telephone, video or other data device serving as a node point in thestar network. As illustratively shown in FIG. 5, a master unit 50 isshown with a plurality of N node units 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, where N=5,and a plurality of X node units 56, of which the plurality N node unitsis a subset.

An exemplary time frame for time division multiple access is shown inFIG. 6. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, a total of five time slots, whichconstitute a time frame, are assumed available for communicating withthe master unit 50 by use of time division multiple access. As usedherein, use of the term transmitting and/or receiving in a time slot mayinclude transmitting or receiving in a plurality of time slots in a slotposition within a frame and/or from frame to frame. Transmitting and/orreceiving in a particular time slot also does not limit a time slot to aparticular slot position within a frame.

In another embodiment, the cells of the cellular system 201 shown inFIG. 2 are disposed in a three-cell repeating pattern such as describedin U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,413. Isolation between cells may be provided byfrequency division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, and/or timedivision multiplexing.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a subscriber station.

In a preferred embodiment, the subscriber station 104 may comprise afirst receiver 301 operating on a first communication channel 103 and asecond receiver 301 operating on a second communication channel 103, atleast one of which uses spread-spectrum techniques. For example, in apreferred embodiment, the first communication channel 103 may comprisethe cellular system 201 shown in FIG. 2, and the second communicationchannel 103 may comprise the satellite system 105 shown in FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, the first receiver 301 may support two or moreoperating modes over the cellular system 201 by the same receiverconfiguration, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,516. Forexample, one embodiment includes a telephone whose first mode comprisesanalog voice techniques and traditional cellular frequency divisionmultiplexed operation employing, but not limited to, narrowband radiofrequency modulation techniques, such as FM, and whose second modeincludes spread spectrum radio frequency modulation, and which mayinclude time and/or frequency division multiplexing techniques, wherethe narrowband and spread spectrum modes occupy common frequency bands.

Another embodiment includes a telephone whose first mode comprisescellular frequency division multiplexed operation employing, but notlimited to, narrowband radio frequency modulation techniques, such asFM, coupled with digital voice commanding and/or compression and/or timedivision multiplexing techniques, and whose second mode includes spreadspectrum radio frequency modulation, and which may include time and/orfrequency division multiplexing techniques, where the narrowband andspread spectrum modes occupy common frequency bands.

In a preferred embodiment, the subscriber station 104 may also comprisea subscriber transmitter 302 operating on a third communication channel103, and the transmitter station 102 may comprise a receiver operatingon that third communication channel 103. For example, in a preferredembodiment, the third communication channel 103 may also comprise thecellular system 201 shown in FIG. 2 (i.e., the third communicationchannel 103 is the same as the first communication channel 103), so thatthe cellular system 201 may be used for two-way communication betweenthe transmitter station 102 and the subscriber station 104. Thetransmitter station 102 and the subscriber station 104 may communicateusing time-division multiple access, wherein a time period is dividedinto a plurality of time slots, and communication is carried out in adesignated time slot or time slots.

The subscriber station 104 may thus receive data to be published (aswell as other information described with reference to FIG. 1), andrespond, by means of the cellular system 201. The response may comprisea request for further data or other transmissions by means of thesatellite system 105, and the transmitter station 102 may answer thatrequest with further data transmitted by means of the satellite system105.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a dual-mode receiver block diagram.

The dual mode receiver 135 of FIG. 7 has as its first mode operationalcapabilities which allow cellular functionality, and a second mode whichallows for microcellular operation. Functionality in the first, orcellular, mode includes a relatively high power cellular telephoneemploying analog or digital voice techniques in conjunction withfrequency, and/or time division traditional narrowband radio techniques.Functionality in the second, or microcellular, mode includes a low powermicrocellular telephone using digital voice techniques in conjunctionwith frequency, time and/or code division spread spectrum radiotechniques, where the cellular and microcellular functions either sharethe same frequency bands, or are offset from each other.

More specifically, the dual mode receiver 135 includes a mode controller126, a tunable-frequency synthesizer 125, a chip-code generator 132, anantenna 120, an adjustable bandpass filter 121, a preamplifier 122, afrequency converter 123, an IF amplifier 124, a mode select switch 127,a spread-spectrum despreader 130, a spread-spectrum demodulator 131, anarrowband demodulator 128, and receiver-information processing means.The receiver-information means is embodied as a receiver-informationprocessing device 129. The adjustable bandpass filter 121 is coupled tothe antenna 120 and to the mode controller 126. The preamplifier 122 iscoupled to the adjustable bandpass filter 121 and to the mode controller126. The frequency converter 123 is coupled to the preamplifier 122 andthe tunable-frequency synthesizer 125. The IF amplifier 124 is coupledto the frequency converter 123. The spread-spectrum despreader 130 iscoupled to the chip-code generator 132 and, through the mode selectswitch 127, to the IF amplifier 124. The spread-spectrum demodulator 131is coupled to the spread-spectrum despreader 130. The narrowbanddemodulator 128 is coupled through the mode select switch 127 to the IFamplifier 124.

The mode controller 126 is used to select reception of narrowband orspread-spectrum modulation. The tunable-frequency synthesizer 125generates a local oscillator signal, and the chip-code generator 132generates a reference chip-code signal for comparison with the receivedchip code signal.

When the mode controller 126 is set to narrowband modulation, theadjustable bandpass filter 121 is adjusted to a narrow bandwidth andcorresponding frequency for passing the narrowband modulated signal.With a spread-spectrum setting of the mode controller 126, theadjustable bandpass filter 121 is adjusted to a wide bandwidth andcorresponding frequency for passing the spread-spectrum signal. Thepreamplifier 122 amplifies the filtered narrowband modulated signal whenthe mode controller 126 is set to the narrowband modulation setting, andamplifies the filtered spread-spectrum signal when the mode controller126 is set to the spread-spectrum modulation setting. The preamplifier122 is switch selectable to the appropriate band for each mode where thedual modes occupy non-contiguous or widely separated frequency bands.The frequency converter 123 converts, using the local oscillator signal,the filtered narrowband modulated signal and the filteredspread-spectrum signal to an IF signal.

The IF amplifier 124 amplifies the received signal and applies it to themode select switch 127 whose output goes to either the narrowbanddemodulator 128 or the spread-spectrum despreader 130.

FIG. 7 illustrates the implementation of a dual-mode receiver 135 foruse in any conventional narrowband application with capability to switchto a separate frequency band while employing spread spectrummodulation/demodulation in the alternate operating band.

Further specifics regarding the operation of the dual-mode receiver 135may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,516, which is incorporated herein byreference as if fully set forth herein.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a transmitter station.

The transmitter station 102 may comprise a formatting module 401 forreceiving data from the data source 101, a data compression module 402,an error correction module 403, a message encoding module 404, aspread-spectrum encoding module 405, and a transmitting antenna 406.

In a preferred embodiment, the formatting module 401 may comprise abuffer 407 for receiving data from the data source 101, and may generatea message signal 408 comprising the data to be published 409 and messagepackaging data 410, as is well known in the art of message transmissionprotocols. For example, in a preferred embodiment, messages may beaddressed to individual subscriber stations 104 by indicating a 32-bitindividual address in the message packaging data 410. In a preferredembodiment, the formatting module 401 may format data for a plurality ofdata channels, may multiplex the data to be published on each datachannel, and may divide each data channel into up to 256 logicalsubchannels.

In a combination with a request by the subscriber station 104 forparticular data or data services, the formatting module 401 may alsogenerate usage data and related statistical data by review of the buffer407 and the message packaging data 410. In a preferred embodiment, theformatting module 401 may generate usage data which correlates eachsubscriber station 104 with the data to be decoded by that subscriberstation 104, and that usage data may be used to compute charges forsubscribers stations 104 and to rate demand for particular data or dataservices.

In a preferred embodiment, the formatting module 401 may format textdata in ASCII format, and may format image data in bitmap format at aresolution of 300×300 dots per inch, or more preferably, 400×400 dotsper inch.

The data compression module 402 may encode the data to be published intoa more compact form, as is well known in the art of data compression. Ina preferred embodiment, the data compression module may use a Group IIIdata compression technique for data which is designated to be output toa telecopier. In a preferred embodiment, data compression module 402 mayuse an ASCII compression technique for text data which is keywordsearchable in compressed form, and may use a compression technique forimage data which is automatically scaled for output to lower resolutionprinters or for display on a graphics monitor. Data compressiontechniques which do not use "alphabet extension" are preferred.

The error correction module 403 may encode the data to be published byadding error detection and correction information, as is well known inthe art of error detection and correction. In a preferred embodiment,the error correction module 403 may use a forward error correctiontechnique which adapts the degree of error detection and correctioninformation to the type of data to be published, and which furtheradapts the degree of error detection and correction information toreal-time error characteristics of the communication channel 103.

The message encoding module 404 may encode the data to be published topreserve its security against unauthorized reception. In a preferredembodiment, the message encoding module 404 may use a nonlinear cipherfeedback shift register technique which processes data at about 10kilobytes per second. In a preferred embodiment, data to be publishedmay be divided into "files" and each file encoded with a file-specifickey, and when received at the subscriber station, re-encoded afterreceipt with a station-specific or device-specific key. In a preferredembodiment, the message encoding module 404 may comprise a hardwareencoding device which encodes one byte at a time.

In a preferred embodiment, a transmitter station 102 and/or subscriberstation 104 transmits M-ary data bits per code sequence. In a particularembodiment, data bits are transmitted in quaternary operation, whereeach code sequence transmission represents two binary bits, representedby one of four binary states. The four binary states may, for example,be represented as:

    ______________________________________                                        Code Sequence Number                                                                            Data Bits                                                   ______________________________________                                        0                 00                                                          1                 01                                                          2                 10                                                          3                 11                                                          ______________________________________                                    

In a second embodiment, data bits are transmitted in 16-ary operation,wherein each code sequence transmission represents four binary bits, orone of sixteen binary states, which may be represented as:

    ______________________________________                                        Code Sequence Number                                                                            Data Bits                                                   ______________________________________                                        0                 0000                                                        1                 0001                                                        2                 0010                                                        3                 0011                                                        4                 0100                                                        5                 0101                                                        6                 0110                                                        7                 0111                                                        8                 1000                                                        9                 1001                                                        10                1010                                                        11                1011                                                        12                1100                                                        13                1101                                                        14                1110                                                        15                1111                                                        ______________________________________                                    

The use of M-ary transmission may provide a number of advantages. Forexample, more subscriber stations 104 may be supported per transmitterstation 102 for the same bandwidth. Another possible advantage is lowerreceiver complexity in the subscriber stations 104, which allows for amore practical implementation in handheld, battery powered devices suchas telephones.

ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS

While preferred embodiments are disclosed herein, many variations arepossible which remain within the concept and scope of the invention, andthese variations would become clear to one of ordinary skill in the artafter perusal of the specification, drawings and claims herein.

In particular, a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in whichdata to be published is broadcast by means of a satellite link from atransmitting station to a subscriber station. However, it would be clearto one of ordinary skill in the art, after perusal of the specification,drawings and claims herein, that the invention is also applicable tomany different forms of transmission and media for broadcast. These manydifferent forms of transmission and media for broadcast would beworkable, and are within the scope and spirit of the invention.

For example, it would be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art thatthe invention would be equally workable with cable TV media, withoutessential change.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for broadcasting, comprising the stepsof:receiving information to be broadcast; formatting said information tobe broadcast into a broadcast signal; transmitting said broadcast signalto a receiver via a first transmission protocol, said first transmissionprotocol comprising one of a plurality of transmission protocols, saidplurality of transmission protocols comprising frequency bandtransmission protocols, mode transmission protocols and multiple accessmethodology protocols, said frequency band transmission protocolscomprising a transmission protocol for a first set of frequency bandsand a transmission protocol for a second set of frequency bands, saidmode transmission protocols comprising a transmission protocol for anarrowband signal transmission and a protocol for a spread spectrumsignal transmission, said multiple access methodology protocolscomprising a code division multiple access transmission protocol, afrequency division multiple access transmission protocol, and a timedivision multiple access transmission protocol; and receiving saidbroadcast signal with a dual mode receiver contemporaneously withtransmitting a signal via a second transmission protocol, wherein saidfirst transmission protocol and said second transmission protocolcomprise separate transmission protocols, said dual mode receivercomprising a mode controller, a first transmission protocol receiver,and a second transmission protocol receiver, said mode controllercapable of selecting said first transmission protocol receiver or saidsecond transmission protocol receiver.
 2. The method for broadcasting ofclaim 1, wherein one of said first transmission protocol and said secondtransmission protocol is a protocol for cellular transmission and theother of said first transmission protocol and said second transmissionprotocol is a protocol for satellite transmission.
 3. The method forbroadcasting of claim 1, wherein one of said first transmission protocoland said second transmission protocol is a protocol for transmitting anarrowband signal and the other of said first transmission protocol andsaid second transmission protocol is a protocol for transmitting aspread-spectrum signal.
 4. The method for broadcasting of claim 1,wherein said broadcast signal is transmitted via said first transmissionprotocol and, further, via a time division multiple access (TDMA)protocol, and said first transmission protocol receiver furthercomprises circuitry for decoding a TDMA transmitted broadcast signal. 5.The method for broadcasting of claim 1, wherein said information to bebroadcast comprises one or more signals from a group comprising controlsignals, data, graphics, digitized voice, digitized images and movingvideo, and mixed media comprising any combination of control signals,data, graphics, digitized voice, digitized images or moving video.
 6. Abroadcast system comprising a subsystem and at least one subscriberstation;said subsystem comprising circuitry for formatting informationto be broadcast via a first transmission protocol, wherein said firsttransmission protocol is one of a plurality of transmission protocols,said plurality of transmission protocols comprising frequency bandtransmission protocols, mode transmission protocols and multiple accessmethodology protocols, said frequency band transmission protocolscomprising a transmission protocol for a first set of frequency bandsand a transmission protocol for a second set of frequency bands, saidmode transmission protocols comprising a transmission protocol for anarrowband signal transmission and a protocol for a spread spectrumsignal transmission, said multiple access methodology protocolscomprising a code division multiple access transmission protocol, afrequency division multiple access transmission protocol, and a timedivision multiple access transmission protocol, said subsystem furthercomprising a transmitter, said subsystem transmitter comprising an inputcomprising said formatted information to be broadcast, said subsystemtransmitter comprising an output comprising a broadcast signal to bebroadcast to said at least one subscriber station, said subsystemfurther comprising an antenna for use in transmitting said broadcastsignal in accordance with one of said plurality of transmissionprotocols; and said subscriber station comprising a subscriber stationtransmitter and a subscriber station receiver, said subscriber stationreceiver comprising an antenna, said subscriber station receiver antennacapable of receiving a signal transmitted via said first transmissionprotocol and of receiving a signal transmitted via a second transmissionprotocol, wherein said second transmission protocol is one of saidplurality of transmission protocols and is different from said firsttransmission protocol, said subscriber station receiver furthercomprising a mode controller, first transmission protocol receivercircuitry and second transmission protocol receiver circuitry, said modecontroller capable of selecting first transmission protocol receivercircuitry or said second transmission protocol receiver circuitry, saidfirst transmission protocol receiver circuitry comprising demodulatingcircuitry for demodulating a signal transmitted via said firsttransmission protocol, and said second transmission protocol receivercircuitry comprising demodulating circuitry for demodulating a signaltransmitted via said second transmission protocol.
 7. The broadcastsystem of claim 6, wherein said subscriber station first transmissionprotocol receiver circuitry is capable of receiving contemporaneouslywith said subscriber station transmitter transmitting a signal via saidsecond transmission protocol.
 8. The broadcast system of claim 6,wherein said first transmission protocol is a spread spectrum signaltransmission protocol and said second transmission protocol is anarrowband signal transmission protocol.
 9. The broadcast system ofclaim 6, wherein one of said subscriber station first transmissionprotocol receiver circuitry demodulating circuitry and said subscriberstation second transmission protocol receiver circuitry demodulatingcircuitry comprises circuitry for satellite technology reception. 10.The broadcast system of claim 6, wherein said subsystem furthercomprises error correction circuitry, said error correction circuitrycomprising an output comprising error detection and correction encodedinformation, said error detection and correction encoded informationcomprising an input to said subsystem transmitter.
 11. The broadcastsystem of claim 6, wherein said subsystem further comprises messagepacking circuitry, said message packing circuitry comprising an outputcomprising packetized data, said packetized data comprising an input tosaid subsystem transmitter.
 12. The broadcast system of claim 6, whereinsaid subsystem further comprises compression circuitry, said compressioncircuitry comprising an output comprising an encoded signal, saidencoded signal comprising an input to said subsystem transmitter. 13.The broadcast system of claim 6, wherein said information to bebroadcast comprises one or more signals from a group comprising controlsignals, data, graphics, digitized voice, digitized images and movingvideo, and mixed media comprising any combination of control signals,data, graphics, digitized voice, digitized images or moving video. 14.The broadcast system of claim 6, wherein said broadcast signal istransmitted by said subsystem transmitter via said first transmissionprotocol and, further, via time division multiple access (TDMA), andsaid subscriber station first transmission protocol receiver circuitryfurther comprises circuitry for decoding a TDMA transmitted broadcastsignal.
 15. The broadcast system of claim 6, wherein said subscriberstation transmitter comprises an output comprising a signal, whereinsaid subscriber station transmitter output signal comprises a requestfor said subsystem transmitter output to be broadcast to said subscriberstation.
 16. A broadcast system comprising a subsystem and a pluralityof subscriber stations;said subsystem comprising circuitry forformatting information to be broadcast via a first transmissionprotocol, wherein said first transmission protocol is a hybrid protocolcomprising a time division multiple access (TDMA) technique and at leastone other technique, said subsystem further comprising a transmitter,said subsystem transmitter comprising an input comprising said formattedinformation to be broadcast, said subsystem transmitter comprising onoutput comprising a broadcast signal to be broadcast to two or more ofsaid plurality of subscriber stations, said broadcast signal transmittedvia said first transmission protocol; and each of said plurality ofsubscriber stations comprising a subscriber station transmitter and asubscriber station receiver, said subscriber station receiver of each ofsaid plurality of subscriber stations comprising an antenna forreceiving a signal transmitted via said first transmission protocol andfor receiving a signal transmitted via a second transmission protocol,wherein said second transmission protocol is one of a plurality oftransmission protocols, said subscriber station receiver of each of saidplurality of subscriber stations further comprising a mode selector, afirst transmission protocol receiver and a second transmission protocolreceiver, said mode selector connected to said first transmissionprotocol receiver for outputting a signal transmitted via said firsttransmission protocol to said first transmission protocol receiver, saidmode selector further connected to said second transmission protocolreceiver for outputting a signal transmitted via said secondtransmission protocol to said second transmission protocol receiver,said first transmission protocol receiver comprising demodulatingcircuitry for demodulating a signal transmitted said first transmissionprotocol, and said second transmission protocol receiver comprisingdemodulating circuitry for demodulating a signal transmitted via saidsecond transmission protocol.
 17. The broadcast system of claim 16,wherein a subscriber station of said plurality of subscriber stationsreceives with said subscriber station first transmission protocolreceiver contemporaneously with said subscriber station transmittertransmitting a signal via said second transmission protocol.
 18. Thebroadcast system of claim 17, wherein said first transmission protocolis a spread spectrum transmission protocol.
 19. The broadcast system ofclaim 16, wherein said plurality of transmission protocols comprisesfrequency band transmission protocols, said frequency band transmissionprotocols comprising a transmission protocol for a first set offrequency bands and a transmission protocol for a second set offrequency bands, mode transmission protocols, said mode transmissionprotocols comprising a transmission protocol for a narrowband signaltransmission and a protocol for a spread spectrum signal transmission,and multiple access methodology protocols, said multiple accessmethodology protocols comprising a code division multiple accesstransmission protocol and a frequency division multiple accesstransmission protocol.
 20. The broadcast system of claim 16, wherein oneof said first transmission protocol and said second transmissionprotocol comprises a protocol for cellular transmission and the other ofsaid first transmission protocol and said second transmission protocolcomprises a protocol for satellite transmission.